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"Brains behind .africa"
reports Diplomat East Africa, on account of Bekele's
work
Diplomat East Africa, a premium
political and economic monthly news magazines of East
Africa, unveils Bekele's
plan for a digital Africa, including the chronicle behind the
endorsement process, the birth of "generation.africa", and the
benefits of the dotafrica project to the continent.
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Nairobi, Kenya:
Diplomat East Africa's Jane Mwangi discusses with Sophia Bekele her
plans for connecting Africa towards a Digital Africa and
more...
Responding to Mwangi's question to the specific endorsement p rocess for DotConnectAfrica initiative, namely the
African Union (AU) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Sophia stated, "I first approached the ECA in 2006 and then
finally got our endorsement in 2008. In fact, as ECA also have a
mandate to coordinate their policies with AU, they assisted in
identifying the appropriate unit for us at the AU to purse the
same. We then approached AU, the Director of Infrastructure at the
time and submitted our proposal. Concurrently, in 2007 we
submitted our dotafrica proposal for support with ITU in Geneva and
the African office in Ethiopia. ITU then turned over the proposal
for the AU to do a study. Discussions took place with the African
Union Commission (AUC) and eventually recommendations were put
forward to the Chairman's office for support, resulting in a
letter endorsing the project by the Chairman's office in August
2009."
As to why African should look forward to the birth of the
'dotAfrica generation', Bekele said "We created a
theme,"generation.africa" so to inspire the youth who are the next
generation innovators and trustees of Africa. This growth would
give the dotafrica generation a platform from which to address the
global internet community as a unified voice for the promotion of
Africa's interest," Bekele said. Full Press
release: http://prlog.org/11041902
Click here for link for the
Diplomat article
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